2005.04.07

I really don’t have anything against the guys behind Odeo, but I can’t help find it curious that we didn’t hear from them back in 2004 when things were happening. An iPod Lounge interview with Evan has this bit:

…we sorta stumbled on the idea of podcasting (although we weren’t calling it that yet) around the same time others did…

I can’t help but think to myself “Why didn’t you get involved?” I mean, I know we have to expect companies to pop up and “take advantage” (?) of the potential of podcasting, but this just makes it seem to me like some guys saw what was going on, went into super-secret mode working all on their own (perhaps tracking what was going on, and “borrowing” all of the ideas) and never contributing antything back. Well, until the company launches anyway. As I’ve said before, I lack business sense, so maybe this is just the way it always works…

The old line about “Would you trust a mechanic who doesn’t own a car?” comes to mind. I still don’t know of any podcasts done by the guys behind Odeo, do they create podcasts? Have they? What do they know about it? Am I being too critical? Maybe it doesn’t matter, but where I come from programmers scratch their own itches and eat their own dog food. Again, maybe they are doing all the right things, and we just can’t see it yet.

I really shouldn’t be so cynical, I mean, they do say things will be open, and there will be no DRM, so I really should just wait and see. My view of their goals is that they want to be the Blogger of podcasting, which, I suppose, is a noble cause. Maybe I’m not really the audience they’re after then, since I’m not really a Blogger user.

One Response to “Odeo Trust”

Good points, Pete. I often wonder the same thing about some of the professional speakers you see at various conventions. The whole point of their supposed expertise is their ability to speak and write books, but in terms of practical, business use of the things they espouse in their own business? Hmm …